What Is Web Development? Beginner’s Guide to Creating a Successful Business Web App

What is Web Development?
 

Web development is the process of creating web applications (including websites). It involves designing, coding, web page development, client-side/server-side scripting, content management, and other web-related tasks. Web development is a broad term that encompasses a range of activities, including web design, web content development, client-side/server-side scripting, web server and network security configuration, and e-commerce development.

Web development originated around the mid-1990s. And the market for the same has grown rapidly over the past decade. The demand for web development services is expected to be driven by increasing internet penetration, investments in digital transformation, and rising demand for mobile applications. 

The forecast for global web development is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1% from 2021-2030. This means an expected surge from USD 13.4 billion in 2022 to USD 81.5 billion.

The main drivers for this growth have been the ever-increasing use of the internet and the subsequent demand for web applications that reduce the burden on users to download, run installation processes, and ensure device compatibility. 

Today, web development is an essential part of almost any business’s operations, making it one of the most sought-after products in the world. 

To explore what is web developers’ duties here, think of how they contribute to building and maintaining websites. The primary role of web developers is to create web applications and manage backend systems. This is creating a huge demand for web development professionals in both the freelance and corporate sectors. 

In addition to traditional web development, the market has seen an explosion of new technologies and frameworks, such as React and Node.js, transforming how web developers create and interact with web applications. 

At the same time, the tools and services available to web developers have also grown exponentially. Tools like Amazon Web Services and Heroku have made it much easier for developers to deploy and manage applications quickly. 

Let’s first understand the types of web applications. 

Different types of web applications that are highly popular

Companies choose different web programming based on the applications they require. Usually, the common types of web applications are as follows —

1. Content Management Systems (CMS): These web applications make it easy for users to create and manage content on their websites. Popular CMSs include WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. 

2. eCommerce: These are online stores that help businesses sell their products and services to customers. Popular eCommerce web applications include Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce.

3. PWA: Progressive Web Applications (PWA) are web applications built using modern web technologies. The examples include HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and Web APIs.

4. ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a web application that helps manage business processes. It is a suite of integrated applications that enables your business to collect, store, manage, and interpret data from multiple departments like manufacturing, inventory management, accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), and human resources. Examples include SAP ERP, Dynamics 365, Oracle Netsuite, etc.

5. Video Conferencing Applications: These web applications allow communication and collaboration via video using the Internet. Popular examples of video conferencing applications are Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, and BlueJeans.

6. Cloud-Storage Applications: Cloud storage applications are one type of web application designed to store and share digital data on remote servers, often referred to as “the cloud.” Popular cloud storage applications include Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive. 

Process of creating web applications
 

The web application development process is often a complicated and time-consuming task. It involves multiple components such as design, coding, testing, and deployment. This article will explain the necessary steps to create a successful web application.
 

#1. Planning & Researching
 

Before starting any development process, plan and research for the web development project. This help determines necessary features, identify potential problems that could arise during the development process, gather relevant information about the technology used to create the web application, and define the project's scope.

A web development company can help you with this phase to make decisions regarding a platform, technology stack, hosting, server setup, and more.

The following activities are much needed—

Deep research: When it comes to developing a web application, research is key. Thoroughly research User Interface (UI) design, User Experience (UX), web standards, web security best practices, industry trends, etc. You also need to research your target audience to determine what features they would find beneficial for the web application.

Determine project scope: This includes outlining project deliverables and ensuring they are achievable within budget and time constraints.

Create a timeline: A project timeline requires everyone to know their duties. Additionally, create wireframes or mockups during this stage to visualize what the end product should look like.

Step 2: Design & Usability 
 

The design of a website or application is essential for the success of web application development. Aim for an intuitive and user-friendly design that aids in easily navigating the web application. Additionally, full-stack web development requires ensuring that the User Interface (UI) is aesthetically pleasing. If you’re not familiar with UX/UI design, consider hiring an experienced designer or developer who can help you create a great user experience. 

This phase requires taking the following actions —

Wireframing
 

Create a blueprint for your application by transforming your ideas into visual representations. This will involve sketching the interfaces, layout elements, navigation paths and more using tools such as Adobe XD or Figma. The main aim is to determine how pages should be organized and how users will navigate through them.

Design
 

Once wireframing is complete, begin designing your application’s interface. Here you’ll be focusing on aesthetics — typography, colour scheme selection, and visual hierarchy comes into play. Try exploring how interactive elements work and how they will fit into the overall layout of the web application.

Usability Testing
 

This phase requires testing features like navigation structure and interactive elements like buttons or search bars to ensure they work correctly. Try conducting focus group testing to gather feedback on user experience with your web application before it reaches production.

Prototyping
 

During this stage of web development, create clickable mockups or prototypes of your web application to get an idea of how users interact with it before it goes into production. Prototypes allow stakeholders such as designers, developers, and product managers to evaluate the work before investing more time into creating a finished product.

Step 3: Develop & Integrate
 

Once the design phase is complete, start creating and integrating your functionalities. Depending on the complexity of your application, this may involve working on back-end programming languages such as Java, PHP, or NodeJS; designing databases such as MySQL; and creating APIs (Application Programming Interfaces).

This phase of web development determines how well the final product will work. It involves creating a functional prototype the development team can build. Here, developers create all of the necessary components of the website and integrate them into a single system. This allows for a seamless experience when users interact with the website. 

Choose the framework: During this phase, developers will usually utilize web frameworks such as Node.js or AngularJS to create and integrate the various parts of the web product. These frameworks help make the web development process easier by providing developers with a large variety of tools and libraries that they can use to get started quickly. 

Coding: The code is usually written in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or a combination of these three languages. This is done per the website's layout, design, and functionality. Once the code is written and tested by developers, it is uploaded to a web server, accessible by web browsers. Coding often involves using libraries, frameworks, and other tools to help speed up development and make the code easier to manage.

Step 4: Test & Debug
 

Testing and debugging are key aspects of any software development process. This step involves running tests to ensure that all aspects of the application work as expected. If any problems are discovered during testing, debug them until they’re resolved.

Testing can be done using various methods, such as manual, automated, and unit testing. 

Manual testing involves checking each website or application feature to ensure it works correctly. 
Automated testing is done by writing a script that runs the same tests repeatedly to identify potential issues. 

Unit testing is a way of isolating individual components of code to test them separately for errors. 

Debugging is necessary once the problems are identified. This requires problem-solving skills and knowledge of how the code works, identifying the root cause of an issue, and coming up with a solution to fix it. 

Testers can run QA checks manually by reading through the code line-by-line or with automated tools such as debuggers or profilers. Here, QA testers use testing tools such as Selenium or JMeter to ensure that website performs as expected.

Step 5: Deployment
 

Once all tests have been completed successfully and all bugs fixed, you can deploy your web application onto a server. Depending on your hosting provider or platform, they might provide you with instructions on how to deploy your web application or offer assistance if needed. 

Ensure measures to protect your web application from malicious activity by setting up appropriate firewalls or security protocols.

Web Development Frameworks
 

Web development frameworks are essential for creating interactive websites and applications quickly and effectively without writing every single line of code from scratch every time you start a new project. 

Different web development frameworks can be used depending on the project requirements, be it client-side, server-side, JavaScript, CSS or hybrid frameworks.

1. Client-Side Frameworks
 

These frameworks are predominantly used to create client-side web applications. Examples include AngularJS, React, Vue, etc. They typically focus on handling user interactions such as navigation menus, input forms and content display areas.

2. Server-Side Frameworks
 

Server-side frameworks are primarily used to develop server-side applications and web apps where developers leverage the interface with databases and create dynamic content for the client-side application. Popular examples include ASP .NET, Ruby on Rails, Express JS, etc.

3. JavaScript Frameworks
 

These frameworks create interactive user interfaces for web and mobile applications using JavaScript as the primary programming language. Developers use React, AngularJS, Nodejs, MeteorJS, etc, for JavaScript frameworks.

4. CSS Frameworks
 

CSS frameworks are based on using cascading style sheets (CSS) for developing responsive web applications. Some of the common CSS frameworks are Bootstrap, Foundation and Semantic UI. 

5. Hybrid Frameworks
 

Hybrid frameworks blend client-side and server-side technologies, allowing developers to create web applications that simultaneously respond to backend data changes and user actions in real time. Commonly used hybrid frameworks are MeteorJS and Apollo — both use JavaScript on both the client and server sides. 

The cost of creating web applications
 

To begin, it’s important to understand that web applications range from simple static pages with limited functionality to complex applications with multiple features and components. A basic static page might only require a few development hours and could cost less than $3,000. 

On the other hand, a complex system could require hundreds (or even thousands) of hours of development time and cost tens of thousands of dollars or more.

Here are some key factors that affect the cost of web applications —

Web app complexity
 

The complexity of a web application will have a significant impact on the cost of developing it. Simple web applications often focus on a single purpose and may be relatively smooth and cheap. Complex applications with multiple features will take more time and resources to develop. Therefore, when estimating the cost of creating web applications, consider the type of application and the complexity of your web app.

App size
 

The size of a web application also affects its development costs. Smaller web applications with fewer features and functionalities cost less than larger ones. Additionally, larger web applications may need additional resources like more storage space, more experts, and wider skills which can increase the cost.

Hosting Requirements
 

Another aspect affecting the cost of developing web applications is hosting needs. You can choose to host your application in-house using your physical servers or use cloud-based services from providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure. Each option has associated costs and benefits that need to be considered when estimating the cost of developing a web application. 

Resources required for Development 
 

The resources required for developing a web application can also affect its overall cost. If you hire developers in-house to develop your application, their salaries and associated benefits must be factored into the total cost. 

Maintenance costs
 

Finally, once a web application is launched, maintenance costs should be considered when estimating its total cost. Depending on your application type and size, the cost may vary. Associated costs are hosting fees, software updates, hiring developers for bug fixes or other maintenance tasks. 

Impero’s expertise in creative web apps

Impero is an award-winning full-stack web development agency with a team of experienced web developers, UI/UX designers, and QA testers. These experts are skilled enough to bring your ideas to life for a web development project. 

Leverage their in-depth knowledge of the latest technologies and platforms that help create feature-rich web apps to make an impact.

Connect with our expert and discuss your web development ideas to get started.